False alarm leads to Petaluma school lockdown

JAMIE HANSEN

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | May 14, 2014

What police say was a false report of an armed burglary caused a brief lockdown Wednesday afternoon at Meadow Elementary School in Petaluma.

Police dispatchers got a call about an armed burglary in the 1600 block of Cabernet Court in east Petaluma at around 12:20 p.m., Sgt. Ken Savano said. The man reporting the burglary, who is now a suspect, said that people wielding handguns and baseball bats were breaking into his home and that he'd barricaded himself in his bedroom.

The man said he lived in the home and gave a name that matched one of the real residents, Savano said. He also gave a phone number that almost matched the resident's old number.

Meadow Elementary School is behind the home, so police placed it on lockdown out of safety concerns for the children, Savano said.

But when police arrived and spoke with three people living in the home, they learned that none of the residents had called the police.

Police made sure no intruders were in the house and then released the school from lockdown.

Officers are now investigating the false report of a crime, Savano said. They believe the suspect might have gotten the resident's personal information off the Internet.